Great American Beer Festival: A Beer Lover's Paradise

By Lindsey Holliday

Three days of beer and I didn’t come close to trying even one-third of them. Don’t get me wrong, I tried. But with over 3,500+ beers on tap and around 700 breweries represented, you can see my dilemma. Denver is often described as the Napa Valley of beer and after moving here a few years ago, I never questioned that logic. But I had yet to experience anything like the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Drawing an eclectic crowd together for one commonality, the LOVE of BEER.

The 28th annual Great American Beer Festival held on October 2-4, 2014, and put on by The Brewers Association, allows exploration of the greatest beers across the country without having to leave one, albeit giant, room. With over 140 different beer styles, it was hard to know where to begin. Seriously, just walking into this place was intimidating. It was a sea of pretzel necklaces and I wanted to dive in. Although, the 49,000 festival goers made it challenging to get around, GABF wouldn’t be nearly as exciting or full of energy without every last one of them. People came dressed head to toe in costumes that would rival any good Halloween party.

But while the festival goers make GABF come alive, let’s look at the superstar of the festival, shall we? BEER. GABF is cleverly organized by region. We have the Pacific, Pacific Northwest, Mid Atlantic, Midwest, New England, Mountain, Southeast, Southwest and Great Lakes. Each brought their A game to this year’s festival. Adam Moulton of Karbach Brewing Co. located in Houston, TX said, “We only brew the beer that is hard to perfect. We leave all the easy one’s to everyone else.” Bold statement, Adam. But I must say, I tried Karbach’s Oktoberfest brew and it was outstanding. They even had hops on display for festival goers to learn the ins and outs of brewing. Or at least know what hops looks and smells like before it turns into amazing beer.

Okay, by now you get it. There was A LOT of beer. Now you may wonder, what’s the point of this beer festival (as if there needs to be one)? I will humor your request for knowledge. There are medals and bragging rights given away to the best beer in the land. Let’s break down the medal criteria.

Gold: A world-class beer that accurately exemplifies the specified style, displaying the proper balance of taste, aroma and appearance.
Silver: An excellent beer that may vary slightly from style parameters while maintaining close adherence to the style and displaying excellent taste, aroma and appearance.
Bronze: A fine example of the style that may vary slightly from style parameters and/or have minor deviations in taste, aroma or appearance.

Judges have the prerogative to award all three medals in a category, or if they feel no beer in a category has met the medal criteria, they can opt to award none. The latter didn’t seem to be a problem at this years GABF. With over 260 medals awarded this year, I won’t list them out. But if you are curious you can check out the winners at the official site here. Colorado took home 39 of those 260+ awards! Aren’t you proud?!

I got to try more styles of beer in one sitting than I have in my whole life. And you better believe I enjoyed every second of it. From porters to ales and everything in between, the GABF really is Beer Heaven on earth. If you missed it this year, don’t fret. This is one festival that isn’t going anywhere. After all, isn’t beer God’s way of showing that he loves us and wants us to be happy?

Prost!

Lindsey Holliday is a Montana native now based in Denver. If she’s not prancing around the city, you can find her in the mountains. Passions include music, travel, writing and sharing her adventures with loved ones.